The Pet Parent’s Guide to a Clean and Odor-Free Ride

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Looking for a clean and odor-free ride? Summer is the best season to enjoy road trips, time at the beach, camping trips and many other seasonal outdoor pastimes our pets often love to join. From visits to the local dog park to sunny cat naps on warm hoods, our pets love the freedom of the great outdoors almost as much as we do. Thank you to Meguiar for providing this information for my readers. This post contains affiliate links, and I will receive compensation if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Posts feature partner companies & may be sponsored. Post contains affiliate links & I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on links.

Clean and Odor-Free Ride

While they may be beloved companions, pets can take a toll on both the inside and outside of cars. Meguiar’s, the world leader in car care, offers tips for pet owners to keep their cars clean and odor-free when taking furry friends for a ride.

Protect your interior surfaces

Your pet can be a great road trip buddy, but slobber, spilled food/water and pet hair can easily spoil your precious leather seats. It’s imperative to take precautions before inviting a cuddly critter into your car by using a product, like Meguiar’s ® Gold Class™ Rich Leather Cleaner & Conditioner, which not only helps protect your leather but it also gently, cleans and adds rich, luxurious moisturizers. For quick clean ups on surfaces like rubber, vinyl, and plastics you would use a product like Ultimate Interior Detailer to clean and offer protection. Meguiar’s ® Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner is the choice for immediately removing stains that may have affected floor mats, fabric seats, and other carpeted surfaces.

Maintain streak-free visibility

The cutest member of your family may enjoy pressing its wet nose against your car window, leaving an evident smudge on the glass. By simply spraying your window with a quality glass cleaner, like Meguiar’s ® Perfect Clarity Glass Cleaner and wiping with a high-quality microfiber towel the blemish will be gone in no time and your four-legged friend can go back to being cute as ever.

Get a grip on shedding

Some cuddly critters tend to shed and leave behind hair, causing a mess in the interior and potential allergens for some of your human passengers. Meguiar’s recommends brushing with a firm bristle brush and vacuuming all cloth surfaces regularly to get rid of the leftover fur and have your interior looking just like new. Remember, frequent car care is easy car care.

Clean painted surfaces promptly

There’s nothing more blissful than cruising down the road with a dog – its head out the window, tongue sticking out and ears flopping in the wind – but the drool that lands on the car’s paint can cause serious damage if not taken care of in a timely manner. To quickly handle the mess without having to wash your entire car, you can use a product like Meguiar’s ® Ultimate Quik Detailer to easily remove the drool before it becomes a more serious issue. Since regular washes might not be a priority during the busy summer months, Meguiar’s experts also recommend keeping a bottle of Ultimate Waterless Wash & Wax in the trunk. This handy product is easy to use: simply mist and gently wipe away with a clean microfiber towel to remove drool and road grime, while also adding protection while on the road.

Neutralize odor

Pets of all kinds leave behind unpleasant odors that can linger inside cars for long periods of time, which is where Meguiar’s ® Whole Car Air Re-Freshers come in handy. The odor-eliminating technology permanently rids the affected area of the odors and leaves behind a desirable scent of either Sparkling Berry, Spiced Wood, Spring Blossom, Citrus Grove, Summer Breeze or New Car.

Nip scratches in the bud

Cats love the warmth of lounging on your car’s hood all year-round, but this becomes a favorite nap spot during the summer. Be careful not to startle your furry friend, or you could experience the unpleasant scratches their claws can leave on your surface coat. For a quick fix to surface scratches inflicted on the clear coat, apply a small amount of Meguiar’s ® Ultimate Compound to eliminate the defect.

Prepare for hair

Pet covers can be especially useful for pet owners with large or extra shaggy friends hitting the road. Meguiar’s recommends utilizing one of the many great options on the market to protect both leather and fabric seats if you plan to have your pet join you on the road.

Pets can be a great addition to any road trip or car ride and shouldn’t be left behind because of the fear of getting your interior dirty. With these simple tips, you’ll be able to cruise around town with your treasured companions while keeping your car’s interior looking and smelling its best.

Do you have any tips for an odor-free ride?

About Meguiar’s

For more than 115 years, Meguiar’s has provided Car Crazy® people with specialized state-of-the-art formulations for making every car’s appearance show car perfect. Meguiar’s provides high-performance car care products for every automotive surface. To learn more about how to get a clean and odor-free ride, visit www.meguiars.com.

Enter your email to receive all my pet care tips!

Sign up to receive an email with each of my latest blog posts, pet care tips, and giveaways. It's FREE!

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.

More from Other People's Pets

Comments 6

My Yorkie didn’t mess up my car that much beyond a few window smudges. I can’t imagine a big dog and the hair mess. I have a little car seat (box) for my next little pet but would definitely use a pet cover for a larger dog. I hate hair, even my own, in the car. They get so much joy out of car rides I wouldn’t worry about it too much though.

We have a large, over 100 pounds, breed Golden and she sheds all over our car but loves to go with us. We usually put a blanket down to keep some of it off the seat but I like the idea of the brush to get some of it up before we vacuum.

My English Bulldog takes daily rides with me to drop the kids off at school. I have to constantly clean the vehicle out! Hair and slobber get everywhere!! If I don’t stay on top of it, I do notice a heavy pet smell. Great tips!

Ellen is a busy Vermont mom of a 20-year-old son and 24 year old daughter. She owns 5 blogs and is addicted to social media. She has been running a small pet sitting business in southern Vermont for the past three years. She's a proud Mommy to 2 shelter kitties. If you'd like to work together, email info@other-peoples-pets.com to chat.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.